We are currently undergoing updates to our site and are working to improve your experience on all devices that you use throughout your day. If you should find a page or a story that is not working correctly, please click here.

Thank you for your patience,

TribLIVE.com Team

DENVER — Gerrit Cole could be on track for an early August return to the Pirates' rotation.

Cole (right lat strain) is not with the team in Denver. Cole joined Triple-A Indianapolis in Rochester, N.Y., where he threw a 55-pitch bullpen session without issue Friday.

Cole is scheduled to make an 80-pitch rehab start Monday for Indianapolis at Rochester, according to Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.

Cole did not make a rehab start after returning from shoulder fatigue he suffered in early June. Cole made two starts after returning from the disabled list before leaving his second start with back discomfort.

The Pirates have been cautious with their prized young pitcher. They don't want Cole returning to the disabled for a third time this season, and want him healthy and to be a potential difference maker like he was last September.

Alvarez still out

Pedro Alvarez (knee) was out of the starting lineup for a second straight game Friday.

Alvarez took infield work prior to the game and went through agility drills. Hurdle said Alvarez is day to day but healthy enough to be available off the bench.

Alvarez perhaps is not being rushed back because the Pirates faced Rockies' left-handed starter Brett Anderson on Friday and will square off against another lefty, Tyler Matzek, on Saturday. Alvarez has struggled against left-handed pitching, batting .186 this season and .198 in his career.

The timeout could help Alvarez mentally. He leads baseball with 22 errors, including 21 throwing miscues.

Glasnow stays hot

One pitcher teams ask the Pirates about in trade talks is Tyler Glasnow, who might be pitching his way past Jameson Taillon to become the top pitching prospect in the system.

Glasnow took home a second straight No. 1 ranking on Baseball America's weekly “Prospect Hot Sheet.”

After a back injury delayed his start to the season, Glasnow was dominant in his last appearance, striking out 11 in six scoreless innings. He walked two and allowed four hits.

Glasnow is 7-1 with a 0.98 ERA in his last 10 starts for High-A Bradenton. He could be promoted to Double-A before the end of the season.

Glasnow has an intimidating presence. He is 6-foot-8, with a fastball that often sits in the mid to upper 90s.

While Glasnow is known for his fastball, he said his most significant improvement this season is in throwing his changeup.

“They are big on getting young guys to throw it,” Glasnow said. “It is night and day from the beginning of the season.”

Surplus to sell?

MLB.com said of all contending teams, the Pirates have the most young talent they could reasonably afford to trade when seeking to upgrade before the July 31 trade deadline.

Wrote MLB.com prospect analyst Jim Callis: “The Pirates' big league outfield is stacked, and even if (Gregory) Polanco were untouchable, they have several quality outfield prospects to deal in Josh Bell, Austin Meadows and Harold Ramirez. ... No contender can match the Bucs' combination of prospect quality and quantity.”

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our
Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent
via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.